Little Things
by Santeira
Summary: These are the things I'll remember you by.


_**Little Things**__ by_ **Santeira**

**Disclaimer:** Not mine.

**Foreword:** T_his is fluff, so you know the deal. I'm considering forwarding this into the DateMe DeviantArt September contest. If you like KakaHina, enjoy._

_Sept 30, '09: edited for grammar and readability.  
_

***

"So, how long has it been?"

Kakashi asked, as he walked with long swinging strides on the dried leaves of the woodland in front of Hinata. The girl, however, tried to keep up with his speed difficultly and watched with strange fascination: random motifs of sunlight dance across his green vest.

"Do you honestly not remember?" she replied and paused awhile to catch a breath, before continuing her steps to come after him.

"You have to bear in mind that I'm senile," he answered with light chuckles.

He had reminded Hinata of how old he was countless times to the point that she had stopped bothering.

"Two years, three months and six days," she answered spontaneously. She wondered herself why she remembered it in particular; some subconscious clock that never stopped ticking.

"Sheesh, I'm getting older," was his response.

"Umm...something must be done, Kakashi-san?"

"About what?"

"...us?"

He did not voice anything for half a minute, walking ahead instead.

"And why is that?" he finally asked.

"I'm turning eighteen in two weeks. "

"You still want to be a clan head?"

"No...But it is expected of me..."

"I don't like them, your clan council. They look like a morbid lot, and your clan is stealing you from me..."

Hinata almost laughed.

"Actually, Kakashi-san, I think it's quite the opposite..."

"Really, that explains why you spend most of your time with them."

"Um..but... I am spending today with you."

He finally stopped walking, and turned his head a little to look at her from the corner of his eye.

"Only after I told you that I'd die in a mission tomorrow," his eye smiled.

"You're not going to die," was her hasty response. In truth; she was not sure about it herself. The words just came out of her mouth smoothly.

"Nonchalant, aren't you? I could have sworn you shed a tear or two when I said I was going to die..." he answered, and continued walking ahead.

She actually teleported near him this time, and held him tightly from behind.

"Hey, don't startle me like that," he stopped, and chuckled again.

"You're not going to die, are you?" She asked.

Something in her voice never failed to pierce him: like a fine string cutting through butter, indeed.

_And she did not seem intent on letting him go. _

"What if I were?" He challenged.

"I ....won't allow you to go to that mission."

Kakashi laughed.

"It's S-ranked, and it will take three weeks. It also means I won't be able to celebrate your birthday with you next two weeks," he explained.

She broke herself from their entanglement.

"I …don't care about my birthday. I just want you to return safely."

"I thought we've talked this over. I'm a ninja, and I have to deal with death, treat it like a friend, and embrace it…stuff like that… "He said dryly, as he turned his body toward her and looked straight at her face.

"No. Don't die. Please?"

_Shit. How would he ever say no to her? That voice._

"Okay, now that you've asked, I won't. Besides, when you finally turn eighteen, we can finally go out in public and have an alfresco lunch together. I wouldn't miss that for the world. We can start doing other things too, if your father hadn't killed me by that time."

"Umm…other things...like?"

Seriously, he almost rolled his eye.

"I don't know...polishing Kunai?"

Hinata laughed.

"There...that's what I want to see," he said straightforwardly, before looking around. "This looks like a good spot. What do you think?"

Hinata looked at where his eye was focusing. The space was a sandy spot under a large tree, beside a river. She looked up and saw sunlight filter through a canopy of leaves. Glossy water meandered through the river, some dried leaves fluttering on its surface. She looked farther and saw that the clearing in the woods seem to lead to nowhere. Bush of wildflowers stood by the rocks beside the waterway, their silky blossoms attended by bumblebees. A soft breeze blew in from the surrounding woods, flicking the leaves on each tree and raising the hair on her arms.

It all looked so perfect.

"I think it is. It's beside the river, easy to get drinking water," she made a commentary.

"And for you to train," he made a mention mischievously. Kakashi needed not turn to look at her to know that her face was taking a smoldering shade of red.

"What's there to be embarrassed about? I've seen you train like that for like a gazillion times. It's not like I'll ever grow tired from--

"Kakashi-san...I..."

"Okay we'll change the topic. We'll spend the night here; I've brought a few seals to aid us."

"Seals?"

"Yes," he answered, as he sat on the ground. Hinata lowered her body to sit in front of the seals he had put on the ground. Swiftly, he unsealed the scrolls he brought, and drew out a big plastic container and a couple of sleeping bags with a flurry of smoke. He afterward took out a few kitchen utensils and groceries from the container and put aside the sleeping bags.

"This...you want me to cook for you?" She asked, looking at the stuff he brought along with child-like curiosity.

"No, I will do the cooking. I know you're good at this, more than I am and ever will be, but I just want you to relax, and let yourself be my queen for tonight," he replied, and began arranging the groceries.

"Let's see. We have rice in this bowl, sauce that I brought from home, six eggs, ketchup, wine, chicken thighs, salt, pepper, butter, and onions."

Kakashi did not take long to set up campfire using pieces of wood he had gathered, and began to heat a frying pan on it.

"First, melt the butter, and when it is heated enough, sauté diced onions until it is partly transparent and the chicken is nearly pink-free, and then season with the ketchup," he said, almost muttering, the sound of the ingredients mixed with melted butter sizzling opened up Hinata's appetite.

"Add cooked rice, wine and season again with some salt and pepper. Sauté until chicken is done and lightly brown," he said again, and winked unexpectedly at her, "got that?"

Hinata giggled.

"Break three eggs into a bowl and add a touch of salt and pepper. Don't beat the egg! Just mix it with ten stokes of a fork or chopsticks. Melt a tablespoon of butter in a new frying pan over the fire. Pour in the egg mixture. Spread the egg quickly with three broad strokes while moving the frying pan back and forth."

Hinata watched with interest as he stirred the pan in his hand, the fragrant smell lingered in the air around them.

"I know you already knew this, but let me play a little here. When the egg is half done, put the rice and chicken mixture in, offset to one side. Take the frying pan off the heat and fold the free side of the Omuraisu almost all the way over the chicken rice mixture."

He put the Omuraisu on a plate, and repeated the steps to make another one, before putting it on another plate. Spreading a grey cloth on the ground, he took out two shiny silver glasses from the container, and poured grape juice from a bottle into them. He put a candle in the middle, and lit it up with a match.

"There, one for you," he proffered the dish to her. She thanked him, taking it and began tasting it with wooden chopsticks she found in his plastic container.

"And one for me," he added, starting to eat the still smoking hot folded egg rice.

Kakashi watched her eat with ease, "this is too good, how...how did you make this sauce? It's...scrumptious," she praised, managing to spill a sliver of sauce from her mouth in the process, and looked at him, wide-eyed.

She felt like a retard at that moment, as she always felt at any other moment, but Kakashi did not seem to mind. He took out a white handkerchief from his pocket and wiped the sauce off the side of her mouth.

"Made it with guide from a recipe book I found from my father's keepsake in a rickety wooden box under my bed. I remember him cook this meal for my mom many times...before she passed away," he replied, putting the handkerchief back into his pocket.

"Thank you, Kakashi-san," she replied. She did not really know how to react to the information. She was afraid that a simple apology about how unfortunate life had turned out for his mother, would remind him, if only a little, of his painful memories.

"You've already said thanks twice. By the way, it took me all night to simmer that sauce in a pot, made from fresh tomatoes, mushrooms, chilies, salt, black pepper, oyster and minced meat. Consider this an early birthday celebration from me, since I won't be able to celebrate with you on your eighteenth birthday. I'm glad you like it."

She did not know how else to show her gratefulness to him, so she helped him clean the dishes in the river after that. And when they were done, she had conversations with him and smiled her best for him.

And later that night, they would sleep beside each other. While she was close, she kept his nightmares at bay; she would neutralize him like an alkaline would to acid.

_It was enough for Kakashi. _

Tomorrow, he would dance with death somewhere far away.

But he already died once, and for all he knew, he might die again tomorrow. Still, spending his time with her that day, he felt like all was well. Life was evident the most, in his opinion, in the _little things, _the small details like how her hair had shimmered under the sunlight and how the sauce had spilled at the corner of her mouth because of her clumsiness today.

And he felt like he would remember _these little things_ till the moment death would greet him again.

After all, he told himself_, you only live twice_.

END

**Afterword:** _It_ _didn't end like how I intended it to be…but oh well. _


End file.
